Web Site Evaluation

Your Guide to

QUALITY

Sources!

Determining Criteria – PAC - bccr

• Purpose – why?

• Author - who?

• Content: - what?– Bias– Coverage– Currency– Recognition

Purpose:sell? inform? persuade?

Things to look at:• About this site• About us• Site index• Site map

ProjectVoteSmart example

Determine the Purpose

of these

Web Sites

(fill in your worksheet)

Bookspot

and

Princeton Review at

Author: person or organization responsible for content

Things to ask:• Is organization

reputable?• Does author have

appropriate education, training, and/or experience?

Author: person or organization responsible for content

Things to look at:

• C – copyright symbol• ~ - in url for name • Site documents, linked biographies, resumes

Ex: Handbook of Texas Online

Ex: Focus on the Death Penalty

Determine the Author

of these

Web Sites

(fill in your worksheet)

Eye on DNA

and

Victorian Web at

Content: what type of information is it?

Bias: an unfair preference for; prejudice toward; favoritism;

Coverage: how well it covers the topic & do other sites cover other aspects of this topic?

Currency: When was the material written? Has information been

added recently? Are links functional or broken?

Recognition: Do others recognize the value of its contents?

Content:Bias

For controversial topics:

Balanced (both points of view)?

or

Biased (one-sided)

Are the claims:

Supported? w/documentation/evidence

or

Unproven? No evidence/documentation

Content:Bias

Look for: • References to alternative

points of view.• Strongly worded

assertions, which should be supported by evidence and documentation.

Ex: Nat’l Pork Producers Council Ex:

Public Agenda for Citizens

Determine whetherthese websites are:

Biased? or Balanced?

Supported? or Unproven?(fill in your worksheet)

Angel on Death Rowand

Death Penalty Focus at

Content Coverage: how well it covers

your topic & do other sites cover this topic

Look for:

• Other sites on the same topic that you can quickly browse and compare to your

• This is also a good way to

evaluate controversial claims.

Content Coverage: how well it covers

your topic & do other sites cover this topic

How to Locate Similar Sites:

• You can locate similar sites easily using Google

• In the search box, type:

related:[URL of known site]Example: related:

www.deathpenalty.org

(fill in your worksheet—related sites?)

ContentCurrency: When was the material

written? Has information been added recently? Are links functional or broken?

Things to look for: • Page creation or revision dates. • "What's New" page that

describes when content was updated.

• Press releases or other dated materials.

IPL.org ( fill in your worksheet)

ContentRecognition: Do others recognize the

value of its contents

Things to look for: • Links from other sites- Google –

link:[URL of site]

Use - link:www.deathpenalty.org

• Tags for this site – del.icio.us—look how many bookmarks

(fill in worksheet for these two)

ContentRecognition: Do others recognize the

value of its contents

Things to look for: • Reader’s comments – Technorati —

blogger’s name or name of blog-

# of blogs linking to website• Citations of articles by other researchers:

example using Google.—type in title of article

…Google Scholar – look for..Cited by…

(fill in worksheet)

ContentRecognition: Do others recognize the

value of its contents

Things to look for: • How many sites are linked to these sites?

Using Google Advanced Search see how many sites are linked to these sites?

ipl2 – www.ipl.org

Go Ask Alice – www.goaskalice.columbia.edu

(fill out worksheet)

(fill in worksheet )

May the PAC

be with you!

Template Provided By

www.animationfactory.com

500,000 Downloadable PowerPoint Templates, Animated Clip Art, Backgrounds and Videos